Ep 52 - Born to run (in the cloud) with Nathan Bell (Nathan Bell)
A few years ago, former M1 Chief Digital Officer Nathan Bell helped the MNO go all-in on the public cloud, making it the most cloud-forward telco in the world at the time. He shares the details of M1's transformation journey.
Telco in 20 · Danielle Royston, Nathan Bell
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Show Notes
A couple of years ago, I learned that M1, a Singapore-based MNO, was doing exactly what I had been evangelizing about—going ALL IN on the public cloud. Leading the charge was then-Chief Digital Officer Nathan Bell. I’ve been hoping to have him on the podcast ever since I heard about what he was doing. Today, my wish comes true. In this episode, he joins me to talk about:
- How Nathan and M1 got the idea—in 2019!— to go all-in on the public cloud [03:47];
- The moment they knew they were going to be successful [14:41];
- How they brought the team along on the transformation journey [16:11]; and
- What Nathan would do differently if he had to do it all over again [19:01].
A quick side note: Nathan recently shared exciting news – a few weeks ago he accepted the role of Digital Practice Partner at Kearney. Congratulations, Nathan!
Links and Resources
- Take a look at M1’s February 2021 news release about its digital transformation
- Watch the TM Forum panel where Nathan and I first met, CSPs should run toward public cloud
- Listen to The Cloud Strategy panel from Asia Pacific Telecom Summit 2022, where Nathan talked more about M1’s cloud move
- Learn more about Kearney’s digital practice, where Nathan recently became a partner.
- Get Nathan’s take on what bringing people along on a digital transformation has in common with the evolution of F1 racing
- Nathan’s right, “with great power comes great responsibility” – so here’s a mash-up from Spiderman: No Way Home to remind you to watch your team when you give them free rein in the public cloud
- Check out Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest Bruce Springsteen songs of all time - Born to Run is #1!
Wanna talk public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring.
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This week’s guest
About Nathan Bell
Nathan Bell is Digital Practice Partner at Kearney. He is an advisor and mentor to both businesses at scale and startups, helping to guide their journeys as they seek to leverage the value of digital agendas and scale digital offerings. As the Chief Digital Officer for M1, Nathan helped shape the future of M1’s business from how customers choose and consume services, to the experiences of its staff, to engagement with its partners. With more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunication industry, Nathan has held a number of senior leadership and sales positions in Europe and Asia Pacific at companies including AT&T, KPNQwest, BT, TelkomTelstra and Telstra.
Podcast Credits
- Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Royston, TelcoDR
- Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
- Editor/Marketing: Alisa Jenkins, Springboard Marketing
- Editing: Andrew Condell
- Associate Producer: Kriselda Dionisio
- Music: Dyami Wilson
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